Two teams from Okanagan College’s School of Business have made it into the final round of the prestigious Inter-Collegiate Business Competition (ICBC) to be held at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario Jan. 3 – 5, 2013.

The Management Information Systems (MIS) team and the Finance team will be the only college-based teams taking part in the national competition, up against top-level competitors from Canadian universities including Simon Fraser University, Calgary, and Concordia.

“Whatever the outcome of the final competition, I have no doubt that our students will represent Okanagan College very well, just as they have in previous years,” said Okanagan School of Business Professor Derek Cook, who is coaching the finance team for the second year in a row.

Last year Okanagan College students put on an outstanding performance, returning with a first place finish in the ethics competition, plus top-three placements in the finance, debating and accounting categories.

Business Administration students Josh Widman, 22, and Daniella Hallam, 22, are studying at the Kelowna campus and are both on the Finance team.

“Our case involved working on monetizing Twitter, and we focused on coming up with creative ways to add value,” said Hallam. “We’re very excited about going.”

The Management Information Systems team, with Vernon students Nicole Hamming and Adria Couch, is being coached by Okanagan School of Business Professor Glen Coulthard.

“I’m consistently amazed by our students and their ability to compete at the international level,” said Coulthard, who attended the ICBC alongside one of the Okanagan College teams two years ago. “We have some of Canada’s best and brightest students and it’s very rewarding to witness their personal growth and successes in these competitions.”

The ICBC competition is now in its 35th year and is considered to be Canada’s premier undergraduate business case event.

Participating students spend a month completing their analysis and written presentation of a business case in order to get into competition. The cases are distributed to faculty members of the Queen’s School of Business faculty for evaluation. Only the top six teams reach the final round in each category.

During the final round, students are given 5.5 hours to review, analyze and prepare a 15-minute presentation before the judges, many of whom are business leaders.